Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Day 3 - Zoo Balboa Park and more shopping

Today was another big walking day - we started off at SanDiego zoo - which Id heard so much about - I have to say I was a little disappointed in it - its actually quite an old fashioned zoo - lots of cages and such, and while they have a big variety of animals, many of which are very endangered and some of which Id never heard of , but as a zoo I have to say Auckland zoo is superior in its design and its user friendliness.I did get to see hummingbirds, pink flamingos and pandas though which was quite exciting.

Balboa Park is another thing altogether - what an asset this is to the city - what foresight to have this area set aside for the public.It was built apparently for the California Pamana exposition in 1915 - and wow they didnt spare a penny in building the most amazing buildings - most are a combination of spanish and quite western european architechture - very ornately decorated buildings of great character .What foresight the city leaders of San Diego had to put this area aside for the public to enjoy.Auckland could learn a thing or 2 from San Diego.

In the afternoon we continued the trend of giving the credit card a bit of a work out.I had GREAT fun in Macys - first with some clothes for Hannah including a gorgeous party dress/cardigan set for only$23- hard to believe - it took me ages to choose which one to buy - I could have bought them all - except that the excess baggage fees might make it not such a good buy!!. I also did some clothes shopping for myself - 3 tops for less than $9 each - thats so hard to believe and they are all really nice too -Finally we went to Target to pick up some Leapster games for Hannah and candy for the kids - another hard choice!!!!-Finally we came back to Old Town and went to Freds mexican restaurant - this one was even better than the one the other night - Huge meals - so cheap and Tuesdays are cheap Margarita night!!!